


First: Do No Harm

by Neathra



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dark Humor, Death, Gen, Hunger Games-Typical Death/Violence, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-23 00:13:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17672750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neathra/pseuds/Neathra
Summary: Pretty and intelligent (But,did you see her interview with Flickerman? Man, that girl's scary!) Gwendolen Rain has been the lead on the recovery ship for the last Three years. Recovering the fallen tributes is a noble and honorable job true, but nobody who is anybody is sure how she can stand to miss the Hunger Games, handle overly aggressive mutts, or just deal with all that icky death for so long. Gwendolen is certainly not telling anyone.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to my Mother - who hates the concept of the Hunger Games so much she won't even let me talk about them. So, I can't share this with her, but I figured you guys might like it. I wrote this in an attempt to get my mother to read some Hunger Games Fanfiction, but even with all the lives saved she still couldn't stomach the idea.

The first rule that Gwendolen ever learned growing up was First: do no harm. Not Doing Harm, took a lot of forms. For example, biting your brother, no matter what he’d done to your dolls was harm. Then Gwendolen got older.

She was a doctor from a family of doctors. Both her parents where emergency room surgeons: rushing around saving lives. Gwendolen inherited many of the traits that made her parents outstanding in their field. She was calm in a crisis, able to make snap judgments, and had a knack for commanding a team of people. So she went into surgery too.

When it came time to specialize, to be assigned residencies. Gwendolen drew what she and the rest of her peers considered the “shortest straw ever”.

She got assigned to work with Anthony Bagman the “lead surgeon” of the recovery hovercraft.

Gwendolen was fuming when she got home. She was top of her class! Recovery craft doctors where glorified morticians.  She should be working at Victory Memorial Hospital, you know, with the Victors and the people who were _somebody_ in the Capitol.

But, if she wanted her license she better turn up for the residency. So she did. She skipped the 63rd Games Final Interviews, packed for a month, and got a good night’s sleep. Then she reluctantly joined the rest of the recovery team.

Dr. Bagman is pretty much the oldest person Gwendolen had ever seen. Neat white hair, greeted her with about a billion wrinkles. He’s been heading the Recovery Craft since there was a Recovery Craft. Dr. Bagman notices her awkward approach and greats her with a warm smile. “Everyone, this is Gwendolen Rain. She’s the newbie. Be nice.”

A lanky woman with greengold eyes and a headband with cat ears stretched. “Been a while since we had a newbie Tony. Alex was the last one right?” The woman was Dr. Cleopatra Parsing, who had been in the class behind Gwendolen parents.

Dr. Bagman shrugged, “You know my requirements are strict.”

Dr. Parsing grinned, “Come on hun, I’ll show you around. Tony’s got to finish some things.”

 

The Recovery Hovercraft is bigger than your average hovercraft. They operate the entire games, and only return once the victor’s been pick-up up by a special ship. In preparation for that, a third of the ship is a crew area with beds and a postage stamp of a kitchen. The rest of the craft was as bleak as Gwendolen had always imagined it. Most of the ship was taken up by a large, ice cold room, with twenty three slabs. More medical equipment than she would have guessed, but hey, what does Gwendolen know? Maybe that rumor about mutts getting onto the recovery ship is real.

She says as much to Dr. Parsing.

“One, its Cleo. Even if you’re not family now, you’ll be by the end of the games, and this.” She picked up large tri-barreled gun “is for any sneaky mutts. Those idiots Gamermakers just love making things that jump or fly. So, stay back when we open the bay. Alex got injured his first year.”

Alex it turns out is short for Dr. Alexander Caraway. He got assigned for residency during the Second Quarter Quell. A mutt bird had flown in and stabbed his leg during a body recovery.

“Why is Dr. Bagman bringing all that sand onboard?” Gwendolen asked watching as Dr. Caraway helped Dr. Bagman heave what turned out to be 5 tons of bagged sand into the hovercraft.” Dr. Parsing didn’t answer.

They leave with the tributes. It’s just the four of them, and the pilot. And room for a bunch of dead bodies.  When the games begin. Dr. Parsing – Cleo has a screens up with live feeds from all the cameras. “We have to be ready to recover fallen tributes in a timely manner. Someone is always up watching for fights. And because the Gamemakers are honestly good for nothing, we also get the joys of calling deaths. “

“What?!”

“Ya, it’s crazy, but those trackers don’t actually track the tributes vitals. Just location.”

And, then like an expert, Cleo then calls time of death on the seven tributes killed in the bloodbath.  

 But, the little girl from District 8 is Alive.

Gwendolen knows this as soon as she sees her. She still has a freaking pulse, even with the horrific shoulder to hip gash the District 2 Boy had given her.

Gwendolen is standing frozen, holding this little girl's hand when Dr. Bagman yells at her. “Rain, Cut her tracker. Alex, I need .1mm sutures. Cleo”

“Blood already on it.”

“She’s type B-.”

 

Gwendolen unfreezes and cleanly removes the tracker from the girl – Abby she remembers – arm. The other three doctor’s swarm. Rapidly stitching the wound, and giving the girl blood. Saving her.

A thought comes, not even a real memory, but her answer to the last question on her freaking residency interview:

 

_So why do you want to become a doctor Ms. Rain?_

_When I was little the first rule I learned was to Do No Harm. But…_

_But, now?_

_But now I want to save lives. Isn’t that what a doctor does?_

 

                                                                                                                                                                        

Abby Jones is the only one of the seven they can save. The next time someone “dies” Gwendolen understands what to do.

In totally, sixteen people survive the 63rd Hunger Games. They’re all in various states of Bad. Abby might have the worst cut, but Aurene – the girl from District 1- has the worse injuries in all. She fell off a cliff. Her district partner just missed catching her.

It would be easier to list the number of bones she hadn’t broken.

 

At least Gwendolen gets an answer to what all that sand is for. Nobody ever checks the bodies of tributes. 

 

When the games are done, she watches the victor, the boy from District 1, getting pulled up into the Victory Craft. He’ll be whisked off to Victory Memorial Hospital.

The Recovery Craft moves slower, takes a _different route home._ Can anyone fault the crew for wanting a few hours peace? Or to take a day to stretch limbs by an ancient lighthouse near the shore?

 

An old man meets them by the lighthouse, he shakes Gwendolen hand as many people come running over to help unload the Survivors. Aurene and Abby need to be carried out on strechers, but some of the Survivors are strong enough to walk or limp out on their own.

The old man shakes Gwendolen hand. “I lost the 11th Hunger Games.” He says by way of an introduction. Then he continues “We were tributes, and while the Capitol gets a Victor, we’re just the Survivors.” He walks with a limp that has nothing to do with age.

Survivor’s Village they jokingly call it. Some of the kids here have never even heard of the Hunger Games.

 

As they wait for the Recovery Craft to be cleared to land, Mr. Bagman sits next to Gwendolen. “You don’t have to stay next year. I’ll right you a recommendation to any hospital in the Capitol if you want it.”

“Do you usually lose this many people?”

Dr. Bagman smiles, “Actually, this was a good year. On average, we save about 60% of the Tributes. We got 70% this year. During the 60th Hunger Game we managed to save everyone, but occasionally you’ll get a bad year where we can only save one or two. Sometimes, even with calling death’s early there is nothing we can do. But, where do you want to go?”

Gwendolen looks down at the lights of the Capitol. “I think, I’ll be staying with you guys.” She says after a minute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point Anthony and his team have saved around 1000 Tributes. Most of those where from Districts like 11, 7, and 9. So the people you need to build a settlement with. My head-canon makes it easier for Anthony to help them set-up in the beginning, because Snow's predecessor wasn't as ruthless, vigilant, and the kids tended to be older volunteers in all districts. (Many of the early Reapings where Rigged to target known Rebel's young children. Having just been through a war, nearly all the big siblings were overprotective. 
> 
> And no, I'm not assuming humans are naturally selfless? Where did you get that reading? (/s)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hate plot bunnies. Does anyone know of a good exterminator? I have planned projects I need to do, but no, I was putting the final touches on chapter 1, and boom! Plot bunnies for a second (and then THIRD) chapter. ugg. Enjoy.

**64 th Games: Eight Survivors**

**65 th Games: Twenty Survivors**

**66 th Games: Eleven Survivors**

**67 th Games: Fifteen Survivors**

**68 th Games: Thirteen Survivors**

**69 th Games: Four Survivors**

The 70th Hunger Games retired Dr. Bagman. It started so well. The only casualty of the blood bath had been the result of a lucky swing by the District 2 Girl. Clarence was from District Four, and was only 16. He had been beheaded – much to the horror of his district partner who had vanished into the elephant grass surrounding the Cornucopia clearing.

One death in the bloodbath was good. In Gwendolen’s opinion, the fewer eliminated in the blood bath the better – the shorter the time between death calls and the Recovery Craft moving in the better. Things went downhill from there.

Of course, the Capitol tended not to see things the same way the Recovery Crew. So in an effort to get _someone_ killed, the Gamemakers had, in a stroke of their typical crowd pandering and obstructionism, set of an earthquake, breaking a massive damn within the valley Arena.

The entire Arena had flooded: nothing to hundreds of feed underwater. This was not what the Capitol wanted: they couldn’t even see the deaths. And for once, the recovery team was in agreement – if they couldn’t find the tributes, they couldn’t pull them out of the soup.

The Annie from District 4 was the only survivor. Dr. Bagman retired the next day. So did the Head Gamemaker. President Snow wasn’t happy to say the least.

 

Somehow at the age of 26, Gwendolen was appointed the new Head of Recovery. (Cleo had had seniority, but had passed it to Gwendolen because, “You’re a better at managing chaos then me.” Alex hadn’t protested.)

Gwendolen might be better at managing the chaos than Cleo, but Johanna Mason almost makes her retire there too.  District’s 1 and 2 may have more victors, but it’s hard to be both instantly lethal and flashy. Johanna Mason? She’s efficient. To paraphrase, it’s not the blood loss that gets you. It’s the internal decapitation.

Alex is humming fragments of a pre-Dark Days song as they pull her victims in, “Johanna Mason took an axe, gave a career forty whacks, and when she saw what she had done, she gave President Snow forty-one.” It’s horrible, but sometimes the morbid humor is all they have. Gwendolen just focus on making sure that Dutch, the District 7 Boy, doesn’t pull a stich laughing.

**71 nd Games: Eleven Survivors**

**72 nd Games: Five Survivors**

**73 rd Games: Twenty Two Survivors. **

 

After the 73rd Games, Gwendolen steps off the Recovery Craft to begin unloading sand packet coffins, and finds a microphone shoved in her face.  Behind the mic was the disturbingly large and horrifyingly red smile of Caesar Flickerman

“Mr. Flickerman are you ok?!” was the first thing that popped out of Gwendolen mouth.

He turned to the camera and pulled a horrified face, “The red can’t be that bad! Gwenny must still be worked up by everything she’s seen.” The camera that is angled so it can’t catch the procession of (mostly empty) caskets.

 _Gwenny?_ Nobody had referred to Gwendolen like that since her Grandmother had passed. Flickerman spend almost a minute talking at the camera, giving Gwendolen the second she needed to compose herself. Alex and Cleo had finished supervising and now where standing behind her.

“Mr. Flickerman. Excuse me, I just wasn’t expecting you. Honestly, I would hope to have a moment or so to clean up before appearing on camera.”

“Oh you look beautiful!” he dismisses her concerns with a wave and a wink. “We have just gotten So many questions about the doctors who do the hard work while the rest of us relax. Maybe I got a little excited.”

The Flickerman show want’s a tour of the Recovery Craft. It’s not a long tour: Gwendolen shows them around the living area, shows off the anti-mutt gun, and they all pretend that there isn’t a frozen room with twenty three slabs taking up the majority of the craft.

The tour finishes and then the cameras are off, the crew gone, and it’s just Gwendolen’s team and Caesar Flickerman. He deflates a little. The same man, but now the bombast is gone.

“How’s – “

Cleo seemingly already know what Flickerman is asking “Helen’s got a Grandson. He’s three months old, adorable, and Rosie named him after Tony.”

“She wouldn’t be the first would she. “

“In my opinion, there are way too many variations of ‘Anthony’ running around Survivor’s village.” Alex chimes in.

“Caesar here is on the ‘Keep People Alive’ team.” Cleo explains. “It’s a little different from the Rebellion, or whatever Heavensbee is cooking up. We’re not waiting for District 13 to ok it to do something.”

“It’s safe to openly talk about this?” Gwendolen asks, although -

“If this place was bugged we’d all be dead years ago.” Alex finishes her thought.

Caesar Flickerman sits down at one of the chairs. “Goodness, have you two told her nothing? Helen was a tribute in the first Games I hosted. She… opened my eyes to the real horror of the Games. I was unduly disturbed by her apparent death, and came running up to Anthony afterwards. I needed to see if what the footage showed actually had happened. It was only by accident I learned her body wasn’t even here.”

“And he hasn’t stopped asking for updates about her life since.” Cleo grumbled. “Now, what are you doing here?”

“Someone put Ms. Rain’s name and picture together. Now everyone wants to know what a lovely young lady is doing with, and I quote a caller “all that icky stuff!” The more attention that’s on you – “

“Will make our job harder.” Gwendolen guessed. “How about, I go on the show, come off as super morbid and into death, and freak everyone out so they leave us alone?”

It works. Gwendolen wears all black, with skull jewelry, and waxes poetic about corpses. The calls stop, and Gwendolen spends an hour in the shower scrubbing off the make-up and the residue of Flickerman’s affect.

 

The minute Gwendolen sees Katniss Everdeen she pegs her as trouble.  

However the Games start off as usual. They manage to save around half the tributes in the blood bath. Rebecca from District 8 is the first non-blood bath death. The poor thing just wouldn’t hold still, and Cleo can’t call the death before Cato send’s Peeta back to check. To the District 12 Boy’s credit, he isn’t cruel to the younger girl, killing her pretty much instantly with one stroke.

The Kids from Districts 1 and 2 are so focused on Katniss that they aren’t really hunting down the other Tributes. And just as Gwendolen feared, with a lack of action the Gamemakers rear there ugly heads. A huge fire sweeps through parts of the arena. Katniss ends up in a tree. Gwendolen smacks Alex when he starts humming _Funny Little Things_.

In return he hits her when she almost dies laughing. Tracker jacker venom may be nasty, but even in large doses it’s easy to treat: it induces functional paralysis.

The biggest problem with Survivors from Districts 1 and 2 is that they often would have preferred to die. Mar, from District 4 is not helping by winding up Glimmer. Gwendolen ends up separating the pair.

Being forced to effectively ground two Survivors is the last highlight of the games for Gwendolen. She doesn’t get to save anyone in the next few days. Cato and Marvel are a nastily efficient with Ralph from District 10, and Bolt from Three’s neck is broken.

Katnis does prove to be trouble, if not for the reasons Snow fears. First, she severed Marvel’s spine with a single shot. A good shot, but it’s an instant kill. Then she stays with Rue well past the cannon. Gwendolen may have called it early, but that doesn’t matter if she can’t collect the ‘body’.

It’s almost like the universe is trying to make it up to her when she does her check on Clove and finds that even after getting her head bashed in the poor girl is still somehow alive. It’s honestly the one of the worst injury that Gwendolen has seen since her first year, and Aurene falling from that cliff.  

Somehow they also manages to save Thresh. Its takes 24 hours to get him stable: Cleo, Alex and Gwendolen all take turns as lead, help, and on break. Even Glimmer and Mar stop their bickering and pitch in fetching things, and watching the games for them.

Nightlock acts to fast for them save Finch, and the Gamemakers want a blood final. They aren’t given access to Cato. Gwendolen says a silent thank you to Katniss when she manages to mercy kill him.

**74 th Hunger Games: Eleven Survivors**

 

When the twist for the 75th games is announced Gwendolen strangles air. Johanna Mason is defiantly coming back. But, Gwendolen is not going back to the Capitol. The team manages to quietly evacuate their loved ones to Survivor’s village.

Gwendolen is faster on calls. Takes a few more risks than necessary, but somehow they manage to rescue every single tribute. There are some close calls.  It takes two hours to stabilize Seeder, and Wiress is touch and go for a while.

Maybe she’s a little rough when she cuts the arrow out of Gloss’s throat, but he’s crazy lucky. Katniss managed to miss every major vein and artery and his spine. A few stitches and he’s fine. Meanwhile, Wiress is drowning in her own blood, and his sister is currently dying from an axe to the chest. Cleo and Alex need backup.

On Day 3, Gwendolen doesn’t expect the arena to explode. She didn’t expect the arena to explode period. Honestly the action was likely good enough that Gamemakers should have been keeping their fricken noses clean. The explosion shorts out all non-essential electrical equipment on the Recovery Craft.

Cleo is the first one on her feet. She shoves the pilot’s compartment open.

“What the Hell just happened?”

“Everdeen shorted out the force field. We have multiple craft’s incoming. I have to pull us out now.”

 

They’re supposed to head straight to Survivor’s Village. They don’t.

Instead of Survivor’s Village, The Recovery Craft abandon’s it previous route and heads to District 13. It’s hard to argue with Victor’s turned Survivors, and Gwendolen is shouted down by Brutus, Mags, and Cecelia. District 13 it is.

**75 th Hunger Games: Twenty Four Survivors**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In canon, 1726 children are murdered by the Capitol through the Hunger Games. The character's in my fanfiction got off significantly easier. Thanks to Anthony's (And now Gwendolen's) team, they saved 1144 kids. And a lot of those kids had kids. (And if you think Survivor's Village isn't helping out District 13 your a fool.)
> 
> Also, the Lizzy Borden thing with Johanna was too good to pass-up, and I apologies excessively. (As with the Hobbit reference)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took a while longer than it should have. There was a romance that got scrapped (for the better of the piece). So finally, we come to the event's of Mockingjay. Nobody dies unexpectedly, and actually some extra people live! So enjoy

Coin like her propaganda more than putting every competent surgeon to work effectively. So, Gwendolen gets stuck being interviewed for those stupid propos again, and again. Why she saved people. Recount your worst memories. Besmirch the names of those you failed to save by using them as political fuel.

It gets to the point that Gwendolen knows she could never operate on Coin. Gwendolen’s got a list of who and why she shouldn’t perform certain operations. Snow is evil, and Coin is just a different type.

And if she has to talk about Annie’s games one more time Heavensbee’s going on that list. Or she might try to strangle him. She’s getting that angry.

So, Primrose ends up saving two lives when she starts following Gwendolen around like a lost duckling. Mrs. Everdeen had taught her youngest daughter everything she could. And Primrose soaked up knowledge like a sponge. With access to three Capitol doctors, she was back into learning mode.

But, Cleo with her cat like eyes scared the youngest Everdeen, and Alex was running around doing the job of two people. So Primrose asked Gwendolen to continue her medical training. Mrs. Everdeen was an excellent healer, but she didn’t have the kind of training Gwendolen does. Gwendolen picks up where Mrs. Everdeen left off and, in her own turn Primrose is an excellent assistant.

After the rescue mission to the Capitol, Gwendolen accompanies a group to Survivor’s village. Coin comes to officially negotiate with the Village’s leader Santiago – the old man that Gwendolen had met her first trip to Survivors village, Katniss was coming because it would look good on camera and so naturally a camera crew is following her. Heavensbee is with the crew planning to get interviews with the residents, and because both Gwendolen and Katniss are going Prim is trailing along behind. They are also joined by a handful of victors looking to see who exactly they didn’t lose.

It goes as well as it possibly could. Santiago and Coin come to an agreement that nobody loves, but nobody really hates either. Well, Coin seems to hate it, but Gwendolen doesn’t think that’s so bad – she got a pledge of support from Survivor’s Village, trade agreements, and a lot of people who are very angry with the Capitol.

But since she didn’t get any governmental rights over Survivor’s Village it was a failure. There are bratty toddlers more subtle than Coin.

Katniss is mobbed the minute she steps of the hovercraft. Mostly by young kids, and most of the surviving members of her own Games except Clove who isn’t really walking on her own yet.

In contrast to Katniss’s greeting, the camera crew – and especially Heavensbee- get ignored. Completely. The camera crew eventually drag Katniss off to do an interview, and Santiago sacrifices himself to distract Heavensbee from putting the little kids on camera.

Sensing its safe, Rosie walks over holding a squirming toddler. “Aunt Gwenny Aunt Gwenny!” Tony squeals struggling to get away from his mother. As they chatted, Tony’s squirming became more intense until Rosie gave up, and released the toddler. Immediately he rushed over and attached himself to Gwendolen’s leg. He doesn’t say anything else, just wrapping his arms and legs around her right leg like a small monkey. She’s forced to walk like she’s wearing a cast.

With Tony firmly attached to one leg, Gwendolen shows Prim Survivor’s Village and introduces her to some of the friends she’s made over the years:

Dutch from 7, who is unhappy Johanna didn’t come – he’s always wanted to complement her on her axe form, and Briar from 11, an old woman who never regained full mobility in her right arm and makes the best cookies.  Victoria from 2 shows Prim her extensive book collection, and Marie C. from 5 demonstrates a relatively simple scientific principle by lighting up a bulb with a pickle.

They run into Cashmere and Gloss when they go see Aurene. Her 12 year old daughter Cloisonne, is curled up with a book between her mother and the two Victors. Gloss and Aurene are talking quietly over her head. It sort of hits Gwendolen at that point how much Cloisonne looks like a little Cashmere. Same tight golden curls, same ears, and same smattering of freckles across the same nose.

And if Gwendolen’s sudden mental math is correct, Aurene was about two weeks pregnant when she went over that cliff.

Instead of disturbing the family, Gwendolen and Prim go find Katniss instead. She’s off camera for the moment, although those cameras turn right back on as soon as Prim shows up. Can’t miss this for the Propos.

But, neither girl seems to mind and so the two talking about their day’s gets recorded. Gwendolen does nothing – maybe if she doesn’t move Heavensbee won’t notice her. But he does, and strolls over second camera in tow.

Then he notices Tony who is still clinging to Gwendolen’s leg, and is far too young to have been in any Hunger Game, and is one of the few children who didn’t bolt at the approach of a camera.

Awkwardly, he’s not used to getting on someone’s level metaphorically or literally, Heavensbee bends down so that he can look Tony in the eye. “And who are you? Do you know Ms. Gwendolen?”

Tony doesn’t answer, but does loosen his grip enough to edge around Gwendolen’s leg, putting the leg between him and the camera. Gwendolen sighs,

“This is Tony. He was born here. Did Santiago give you a tour? Did you know he was Mags’s district partner?”

Heavensbee mostly ignored Gwendolen. In turn he was ignored by Tony who squealed “Mama!” detached from Gwendolen and half tripped, half dashed to Rosie who had materialized like some sort of maternal falcon when the camera had turned onto her son.  

The young mother scooped her son up, gave Heavensbee a look of pure malice, and disappeared between two buildings. Thus abandoning Gwendolen to the ex-Gamemaker. He’s using that voice he uses for TV again. It’s a hollow voice, the emotions displayed don’t reach the real core of what he’s saying.

“It’s so strange seeing all these people who should have died or even never been born.  It’s too bad that nobody from the 70th Games was able to be saved. But, really Gwen” _Didn’t she tell him she hatted that nickname?_ “Gwen, what is your favorite thing about Survivor’s Village?”

Gwedolen was done playing nice. “Well, maybe if you Gamemakers hadn’t flooded the arena we might have saved some people during the 70th games. It’s very hard to convince any audience that a person thrashing on the surface is dead, and well bodies sink so we couldn’t find anyone. But, honestly my favorite thing about Survivor’s Village is how it shows we don’t need the Capitol to thrive. We don’t need the specializations of each district, and one community can provide for themselves fairly well.”

At dinner, Santiago would tell her how Heavensbee tried several times to change the villages name to something more… TV. Yup, he’s going on the Do Not Operate list.

Coin’s plan for Finnick and Annie’s wedding keeps getting revised as Santiago offers them space for an outdoor wedding, and several other couples decide to get married on the same day. In the end there are five weddings going on at once. Coins original plan gets completely scrapped, and once again Tony show better emotional control.

Anthony himself turns up to hug everyone into oblivion. He’s hailed like some returning God, and Coin’s smile get thinner.  Cloisonne is probably the world’s cutest flower girl for her parents (Gwendolen’s math was right), and Mags officiates for Finnick and Annie.

They even get to show off the Survivor’s Village wedding tradition which is both old, and new, a bit like the Capitol’s and then also has stuff from all the Districts. So it’s a complete mess, but a fun mess.

Gwendolen spends a lot of time being tr up to give speeches at weddings where either the bride and/or groom would be dead is she hadn’t been there. Anthony gives a couple as well. Katniss’s three speeches range from obviously scripted to heartfelt, and Coin opens the festivities in a joint speech with Santiago where only one of them really means it. Johanna heckles and is amazing at it.

 

Things go smoother with dozens of former tributes, and the Quarter Quell Victors on their side. Brutus and Enobaria naturally think like the citizens in 2, and actually talk the District into surrender without much bloodshed. Well, Brutus does. Enobaria is still a little bloodthirsty after being treated like a rebel by the Capitol.

The assault teams are formed. Coin tries to put Prim with the field medical team, but Gwendolen has had enough of children being in danger and puts her own foot down. Her assistant/apprentice/student, her rules.

The two stay behind lines. Gwendolen may be a surgeon, but she’s not a field surgeon, and that should be left to those with a different type of steel nerves.  When the assault occurs, Gwen, Cleo, Alex, and Prim are all together, ready to handle whatever is thrown at them.

In between bouts of frantic action, the four wait, pacing for what felt like hours as news dribbled in: too slow to feel reassuring. Time slows: it’s like Gwendolen is back in the games: anxiously waiting for the next burst of action, but feeling a thousand times more helpless. And if she has to throw out one more camera…

Gwendolen makes Prim take more breaks then the three adults take combined. She might have the nerves, and most of the stamina to be a surgeon already, but the girl is still only 13. So, when the waves of incoming casualties slow down, Prim’s sitting down, with an old text nursing textbook.

It is during one of these slow points that a furious Gloss half drags/half carries a badly injured Finnick into the surgery center. Gwendolen only catches the end of what he’s saying. “But Aurene would find a way to bring us both back so she could kill us herself.”  Alex helps him hoist Finnick onto an operating table, and the surgeons get an explanation or the injuries. “There were these Lizard mutt - things. Everdeen blew them up with a Holo, but they took out most of the squad.” Then to Prim, “Your sister’s safe as she can be.”

Cleo nods, makes a note of what the injuries are and the apparent causes, and then runs off to deal with the sudden wave of injured coming in.

Eventually, Prim does break, falling asleep in the corner chair. A few minutes after the young teen falls asleep the news of surrender comes across the airwaves.  They’ve won.

The victory is not without casualties. Most of the team surrounding Katniss were killed by Snow’s newest experiment, and there were heavy losses on both sides and a terrible number of civilian deaths. Katniss was badly injured by the same bomb that took out most of the field medical team. The same bomb that killed a whole group of Capitol children.

 

Gwendolin isn’t present when Coin puts forth her “Capitol Games” proposal. She does hear the reaction of the Victors and several Survivor’s from across the building. Well, all she can hear is Aurene calling Coin every name in the book, but she assumes Aurene is always louder than average.

As the news spreads, Santiago’s cold counter proposal of asylum for any Capitol child chosen in Coin’s revenge games gets better press than the idea itself. As a calm woman from District 3 put it, “Didn’t we just fight a war to end the Hunger Games?”

When just after Snow’s execution, it comes out that Coin ordered the bombing that killed those children and the medics, nobody is all that surprised, or particularly sad. Considering everything that is turned up in the ensuing investigation, Coin is lucky to have only been sentenced to 300 years in prison.

 

In the next 20 years, Prim blows through every class, every lesson, and every test like she’s actually some ancient goddess of medicine hiding amongst the mortals. She’s the youngest medical graduate ever. She stays with Gwendolen during her schooling, but then moves back home, to the rebuilt district 12, to her sister and new brother in law.

Gwendolen visits now and then, when her surgery class is on summer break, or winter break, or one of the many holidays that are now scattered throughout Panem’s calendar. But, Gwendolen is never going to like District 12. She’s too much a city creature.

Eventually, she finds herself sitting on the wall outside that old lighthouse near Survivor’s Village – the name stayed the same no matter what – with an even older Anthony sitting beside her. He’s a sharp as ever - even for a man nearing 100.

“Why did you start saving people?” Gwendolen finally asks after all those years

Anthony sighted, “When I first heard of the proposal for the Hunger Games, I recoiled.” He tells her. “Something in me said: _This is real evil. Evil beyond human measure._ And nobody around me seemed to care. They were… too distant from the District’s to think of them as real people. Maybe I should have stood up and said something, instead of sneakily helping people. But, I was scared to stand alone.” For someone who had saved hundreds of lives, he sounded guilty. “I could have saved everyone.”

“Maybe” Gwendolen admits. There has never been any use in lying to Anthony about anything. “But, maybe you would have died, or at least not been allowed near the Recovery Craft. And then nobody would have been saved.” She leaned back looking at the stars. Finally she spoke,

“Did you know that the phrase First: do No harm is not the complete rule? It’s actually the second part of the phrase. You’re supposed to first try and help the patient – if you can’t do that, than the least you can do is help the patient. I think we managed that fairly well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, Finnick, Prim, you two aren't allowed to die. Finnick because honestly, we need more fictional kids with two loving parents because it just doesn't happen enough, and Prim because the satisfaction of the narrative arc just falls apart without you. 
> 
> Yes, if I lived in Panem I would happily live in the Capitol because then I don't have to worry about me, my family, or my children being forced to play Death Games, and I do have some capacity to keep my head down. If this says something bad about me, I'll accept that bad. 
> 
> Also, for a history/historical writings lesson, the words _First: Do No Harm_ , do not appear in the Hippocratic Oath (The original title for this story BTW), but the phrase _"Practice two things in your dealings with disease: either help or do not harm the patient"_ does appear in Epidemics the 1st book of the Hippocratic School (thank you Wikipedia)


End file.
